Summer strikes in QLD, with demand shooting up (and prices see-sawing)

In the aftermath of the floods (which affected many, including our office), Queenslanders have been given a reprieve with a number of consecutive days of hot and sunny weather.

This has been particularly the case today, with the temperature rising above 35 degrees in Brisbane, as part of high temperatures experienced in the south-east corner.

These high temperatures have driven demand higher which, by virtue of transmission constraints, has also led to high prices for the QLD region.  As shown in the following snapshot from NEM-Watch at 11:50 NEM time, the demand in QLD was approaching 8,000MW before noon, and prices had spiked.

2011-01-18 at 11-50 NEM-Watch

In the following snapshot, taken 60 minutes later, we see prices had dropped below $0/MWh to approach the price floor (whilst demand had risen above 8,000MW).  In this snapshot we see that QLD has a 35% surplus of available generation over demand, which is a very healthy margin.

2011-01-18 at 12-50 NEM-Watch

At the time of publishing this article (15:05 dispatch interval) the QLD demand had peaked at 8,136MW at 14:10.

As shown in the final image for the day, prices had jumped back up again (observe the see-saw of prices in the price chart in the top-right):

2011-01-18 at 15-05 NEM-Watch


Note that throughout the day the NEM-Wide demand remained very low, reflecting the fact that the hot weather was unique to Queensland.


About the Author

Paul McArdle
One of three founders of Global-Roam back in 2000, Paul has been CEO of the company since that time. As an author on WattClarity, Paul's focus has been to help make the electricity market more understandable.

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